“We have reviewed the language that we use in announcements and elsewhere and will make sure that it is fully inclusive, reflecting the great diversity of London.”

Mr Khan said he was “keen” TfL speak in a “more neutral way”.

What are your views?

Are you concerned that this cultural constant greeting will be eroded everywhere over time? In attempting to be inclusive are we in danger of losing our quintessentially Britishness? Is this political correctness gone mad? Or is it right that we should move with the times and risk not offending others?

How on earth can it be out of date , we have had and always will have two genders male and female no others unless you have been surgically altered . We need two sexes or we would simply cease to exist and speaking as.a male I'm only too pleased with females . And I may be wrong but I'm sure that the majority of females enjoy being treated as ladies and looking like ladies too. My word what a sad society it's becoming.

Oh for goodness sake! Teach people the correct way to address people. Also I hate it when a shop or institution I am dealing with addresses me "Hi Anne". That is for friends and family only, which they are not.

I do not see the problem in the "ladies and gentleman" announcements after all if you were born a male but now wish to be female and would like to be known as a female and the same with a female who now wishes to be a male doesn`t the greeting of "everyone" just draw attention to the fact that it is done on the sole purpose of highlighting the people who have changed their desire to be something other than what they were born with.

Hello everyone......YUK. The killer words are there, "diversity", "Inclusive", "gender neutral".....more YUK. There is a saying, 'all cats are grey in the dark' and that is what some people want this country to be. In trying to be something for everyone we will become everything for no-one. Oh, nearly forgot - have a nice day!

I think it is a secret plot to incrementally homogenise the population into "citizen's ," "where is your identity card citizen?"
Slip sliding into living in George Orwell's 1984.
Until then, all old traditions will be phased out. we become robots. Do robots care what they are called?

Pet hate of mine is when a waiter/waitress refers to me and my wife as 'guys'. Also when cashiers thank me for waiting in a queue. I point out that, if I don't, I won't be paying for my goods. In addition, I am irritated by the cashier wishing me 'a happy rest of my day'. When I once said that would be difficult as I was going to a close relative's funeral later, they didn't know what to say. All part of chummy, matey, hip Britain.

What I dislike about it most, is that it's all so insincere. They utter these idiotic phrases, which they learn by rote, without any eye contact.
On another point, while I'm ranting, why is it Transport for London now? What was wrong with London Transport? How much did it cost to change all the signs, and what for?
In the article, it said that the Mayor, MR. Khan was keen for TFL to speak in a more neutral way. Why then, was he identified as MR? Surely, following the rules of modern stupid-speak, he should be called, THE PERSON known as Khan!
Is it me, or has the whole of Britain gone stark, raving mad?

No, it's not just you, Scandiman, the whole of Britain is stark, raving mad. We've been compelled to give place to liberal thinkers (perish the breed) and do gooders and they have wreaked havoc on British society. They forget their advanced education was paid for by the British people they so revile. In gratitude they sever the very financial and cultural breasts which nurtured them to ... I was going to say adulthood. That's in very short supply now so I'll retract it.

I can't speak in particular about Transport for London - spent my teen aged years there and went farm working as soon as I could get out. But isn't this British society now so driven by image?

London Transport had an archaic image. Underground roundels are seen in war time documentaries. Some bright spark in an advertising agency must have suggested a change! Do they care about costs. No.

Scandiman, I'll speak my mind. We've let go our spiritual roots, the very roots that gave an anchorage in an eternal reality. No matter the storms that might hit us our anchor held secure. Today, that sort of sentiment is repudiated, scorned. But because of that the country has become a free for all in so many respects. We have become a weak, ineffectual people. The storms are more fierce and we are all tossed about without hope.

Me? I dug deep roots when much younger. They've served me well. I just wish I'd served them so well.

We have gender awareness weeks in work and transgender support eeek to support staff and families of staff who are undergoing the "transgender journey" , however I have not seen any conferences in work or support weeks for staff or families of staff with cancer or dementia, which affects a much higher percentage of people, do we have our priorities wrong ?

While It would be very nice to cling on to traditions we know and love so well as a part of our time as the older generation, it is impossible.
We are handing over to the new breed now who will put their stamp on their own traditions.

I suppose time, technology, fashion and language marches on and we must adapt.

I agree with mist comments here, our beautiful country is losing its traditions in the interest of so called political correctness... Our moral code has gone, even the fact that as a nation we were considered honest and trustworthy has gone....

I'm more shocked that someone is being paid to come up with such ridiculous ideas. TFL would be better spending their time on improving customer experience than discussing how to greet passengers. If someone is offended by being called ladies or gentlemen then I say tough. I don't prefer to be lumped in with everyone. I would think as over half of TFL passengers have English as a 2nd language we may go on to greetings in several languages, where does it end

I do worry about our country and our traditions as they seem to be eroding very fast. Not many men give up their seat for me nowadays on public transport and we seem to be loosing our manners as well. Oh dear whatever next?

Wilf, a good few hours ago, welcomed an inclusive society in a post below. Now I have a high regard for Wilf and a lot of respect. We agree on many things, but on this we cannot agree.

Any attempt to make our society inclusive weakens it. Inclusion means nobody may fail, nobody will win (refer to the non-competitive sports thread of this week), sexual deviancy is acceptable if not encouraged and what is termed a crime is down graded as an advance in British society. Thanks Tony Blair!

There is no such thing as a thriving inclusive society. Of it's very nature such is doomed to destruction because there isn't a framework in which we may live. Other societies long before ours went down this road and died. Rome is a classic example as is the Greek civilisation. They died for the same reason - in John Lennon's words ... anything goes. No it doesn't.

I will always treat my wife as the lady she is. I will respect other women in a similar fashion. Our Editor, Sally, has identified herself as a woman, a wife and the mother of three girls and carer of a dependant mother. Given her identification with her womanhood I know how to write to her, how to make a point, and know a word of thanks goes an awfully long way. A male Labour troll, however is a different matter. Using SS for political gain is unacceptable and my replies are ruthless.

In terms of TFL, what difference will their policy change make? Little, if any. Society will go on while we identify ourselves by our gender. I will still open a door for a woman, be courteous to her, carry her shopping to her car.

That's being nice. But what happened to 'nice' in our society? Relegated to a pack of biscuits?

Lionel I have a huge amount of thumbs down including I think one from you my old friend! I was just going with the flow (only dead fish do that it seems!) and trying to be a bit modern in these 21st century times but seem I am a bit our of touch with the rest of my fellow members. Time to dig a hole and retreat quickly down into it methinks!

I'm very sorry to have made that comment so personal Wilf. I wish I'd done it another, less personal way.

Please don't dig a hole, nor think of yourself as a dead fish. Far too much to offer us on Silver Surfers.

It seems many of us here have either grave misgivings or at least doubts, about the directions this twenty first century is taking. I certainly am among them. I would like to think my wife and I had bequeathed my step children and grand children something better than a smart phone driven, dumbed down society.

Lionel we will always be friends I really respect and enjoy your thoughts and comments. I was only joking as I normally seem to have hit the nail on my comments but here many of my fellow Silversurfers obviously do not agree as I am down at -14 thumbs down! All the best to you and hope you are enjoying the weekend!

Enjoy this weekend? I don't think so, Wilf. Today is my wife's birthday. It's been a quiet day, mainly because we are quiet, reserved people. Took Collies for a run and had a lot of fun with them as always. But tomorrow the Hoardes and Vandals hit. My step family.

Tomorrow I'm chef de cuisine, as always on these occasions. Why? Because I can and it gets me away from the less well regarded family members. I'm renowned within the family for social gaffes, otherwise known as speaking one's mind.

As yet I don't know how many I'm cooking for, but it will be a lot. By 7.30pm they will have eaten and drunk us out of house and home and I will be evicting them. At 20.00 hours I will be in my recliner sound asleep. 22.00 I'll be awake and dog feeding.

23.00 I will be in our lovely bed, sound asleep. Out for the count!

Monday I'll be grumpy. But my dear lady knows how to handle me on those days. She knows I'm not fond of many of my step family.

All of which is an awfully long way from the subject of this thread. I do hope Sally lets it stand.

But, Wilf, yes, we'll be friends on SS for a very long time. Like minds. I do look forward to it.

As someone who is Transsexual, I still totally agree with Lydia321's comments. The world is going mad and all this business about being PC, being more inclusive and not wanting to label people, etc, is actually doing more harm than good to the people, like me, who, as Lydia, says, couldn't give a damn in the first place.
I don't want to feel if I am 'special needs', that people around me have to be careful how they refer to me just in case I am offended. I want to live in a normal world where people say good morning sir, good morning madam or good morning ladies and gentlemen.

What next. The signs on toilet doors show either a figure wearing a skirt or trousers. Sadly not so many women wear skirts these days, so is someone going to say that the sign for Ladies is sexist?

In reply to GayleH comments. Good for you girl. You are exactly right. To many different labels is only going to confuse and even worse, create more prejudice then there is now. If someone is gay, fine, but let's not make them a target for those who are too narrow minded to except people for who they are, not what they are. Good morning Ladies and Gentleman, long may it last.

The world has got politically correct madness. Between wanting to be famous for 5 minutes. Wanting equality in everything, self obsession, greed, suing culture,prolific dishonesty, and lack of basic good manners and care for our fellow man. It is a sad place to live these days.

Who are these people? Are they actually being paid to come up with this trivia?? Why don't they concentrate on making sure the trains run on time and the ticket machines are all operational. On this earth there are men and women (ladies and gentlemen) regardless of who they might like to be or feel they are, which is their right, but it is quite ridiculous to change a standard greeting to suit one catagory of people. I'm sure (I know) the people it's aimed at wouldn't want it anyway.

The worst crime in modern Britain is to hurt someone's feelings. It's getting to the point where a person has to think carefully before speaking in case they inadvertently offend. There must be an army of bureaucrats who spend all their time looking under every stone for new ways of avoiding offence. What my dear, departed grandparents would think of this, I shudder to think.

The PC brigade have completely lost the plot! We are, whether by birth or choice, male or female. It's nothing to do with "Britishness" either - other countries address their populations in a way which defines their sex e.g. Mesdames et Messieurs and Damen und Herren etc etc. What this could be is an insidious way of introducing uni-sex toilets which I would hate! Having said that - there's never a queue for the Gents so perhaps ........... just perhaps 🙂

I am sick and tired of this sort of thing (so as not to offend others ) is the usual excuse. Gradually I feel our way of life is being eroded. I.e some forms have no room for Mrs,only Ms . I am not a Ms I proudly married my husband I am Mrs.
The day I find the toilets not saying men or women I will not use them.
This is the tip of the iceberg.
I don't interfere with way people want to live. But they certainly are interfering with ours. Or is it just the
P c brigade? Because often we find out it's the PC brigade that decide how everyone thinks. They cause more trouble then all the diverse people so I like ladies and gentlemen . But like good manners it may be outdated. Or will it?

This gender neutral idea is becoming ridiculous. The NHS are struggling to move away from mixed wards, because people want single sex accommodation. Everywhere you go in this country, there are (in the main) male or female toilets, to the point where they put a plaque up to state if a male cleaner is present in the female loos. It kind of makes TFL look a bit silly really.

The latest "trend", gender neutral, is a joke. Every human being is one gender or another. That silly term infers that there is something without a gender. It's just ridiculous and to force it upon children, to expect teachers to incorporate it into their teaching is CRIMINAL!

It's not losing "Britishness", it's losing sight of pure facts. There are only men and women in this world. If someone is crossgender or gay or lesbian they are still either man or woman whether by birth or choice.

This 'fear of upsetting anyone' is getting ridiculously out of hand. I don't care what gender people are or want to be but surely there are only 2 options available to the human race - male or female? We are not robots, dogs, trees, genderless . . . so what on earth is wrong with 'ladies and gentlemen'? What next? Can we no longer call children 'children' when they become sexually active?!

This another instance of the complete stupidity of the so called 'Leaders' of our country and communities. There are Two genders.. male and female. All these others descriptive versions of these genders do not add to the number available. People can chose what they wish to be so that is a personal choice, so why are we bowing to make cultural changes law for the sake of 'tis minority of the population.

It's ludicrous and someone in the underground needs to focus on getting the trains running on time and get them cleaner rather than making up total nonsense like this which is against the English language

Wow Wilf! Not the most popular statement it seems but I agree with you, embrace modernity.

Elvis was shunned for his new way of dancing, Rock and Roll was tut tutted as something sent by the devil.

Keeping to old traditions ( which are still deemed unlawful).
Entering the houses of Parliament with your armour on
Dieing in the houses of Parliament is unlawful
Allowing your dog to mate with the Queens dog.
Firing your cannon within 300yds of a dwelling house.
The Magna Carta is full of traditions that we have now moved on from.

Addressing the tube passengers in a friendly "Hello Everyone" is innocuous in comparison.

Oh Dear Yodama most of my comments seem to get the thumbs up but not this. i thought I was going with the flow and the times they are a changing but seems like Fred Blogs UK does not want to change to more modern ways in this case. I have just seen my old mate Lionel does not agree with me I will address him in a sec. Yes you are so right we all hate change yet that is what mother nature does she is always changing things for the better its called evolution...now some thins do not change as they are so good-the shape of an egg, sharks, crocodiles and the shape of a wheel BUT we must all adapt to changes and that goes for our wonderful diverse society!

I must say that I find this all quite concerning. Whilst I have certainly moved with the times with regard to being very open minded and accepting of everyones rights in so many aspects of society, I do think that we now risk losing our identity as a nation. We are being told that instead of 'Merry Christmas' we have to say 'Happy Holidays' and now the erosion of this traditional greeting is another step towards us losing our identity and our own British culture. 'Ladies and Gentlemen, boys and girls' is as old as the hills and deemed to be a very polite greeting ... I wonder what the Queen thinks???

I will never EVER say "happy holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas". This is ridiculous. This is Britain. I really don't think other religions care. When I worked in Manchester people of other religions were quite happy to celebrate Christmas with us. After all, they wouldn't change the names of Ramadan or Diwali or Passover to suit us would they?

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